Playing-cards.



FREDERICK WILLIAM PITT, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

PLAYING-CARDS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 20, 1916.

Application filed August 18, 1914. Serial No. 857,341.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK WILLIAM PITT, a subject of the King of Great Brit- 7 ain and Ireland, residing at 147 Elgin Crescent, Notting Hill, London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Playing-Cards; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to packs of playing cards which consist of a suitable number of cards each of which is provided on its face with a letter of the alphabet. Up to the present time the sorting in alphabetical order of a hand of such cards, Which is necessary if the player does not wish to be handicapped by his cards not being in alphabetical order, is a somewhat tedious occupation and occupies a considerable amount of time.

The object of the present invention is to produce a pack of cards of the above described kind, hereinafter referred to as lettered cards, which can be arranged in alphabetical order with a minimum of time and trouble.

According to the invention the cards forming a pack of letter cards are divided into sections to'each of which sections are assigned certain letters of the alphabet. These sections are rendered distinctive, that is to say distinguishable from one another, 35 by providing the backs of the cards, which may either be plain or bear a pattern, with indices corresponding to the sections into which the pack is divided. These indices, which are preferably numerals though they 40 may be letters, will enable a player to rapidly effect a preliminary sorting of his cards without disclosing his hand to his opponent or opponents as all he will have to do will be to lay his cards face downward on the 45 table in piles corresponding to the sections into which the pack is divided. Having thus partly sorted his hand he will place said sections in his hand in order corresponding to their indices and will then, if 80 he thinks it necessary arrange each section in alphabetical order, which will be quite an easy matter, as in most cases very. little alteration in the relative positions of the cards will be necessary. The number of 55 cards in a pack may vary as also may the number of cards in each section.

Assuming, and this is only given by way of example, that a pack of cards according to the invention consists of 4-8 cards, divided into 6 sections, the first section may consist of eight cards, two of which could bear the letter A, two the letter B, two the letter C, and two the letter D. The second section may consist of a like number of cards bearing on their faces the letters E, F, G and H. The third section may consist of seven cards, two bearing the letter I, one the letter J, two the letter K, and two the letter L. The fourth section of the pack may consist of eight cards, two bearing the letter M, two the letter N, two the letter O, and two the letter P. The fifth section may consist of nine cards, one of which would hear the letter Q, two the letter. R, two the letter S, two the letter T and two the letter U. The cards of the remaining or sixth section would be printed with the rest of the letters of the alphabet, andcould consist of eight cards, two bearing the letter V, two the letter W, one the letter X, two the letter Y, and one the letter Z.

.The invention is illustrated by the accom- I panying drawings, in which it is assumed that a pack of lettered cards is divided into six sections.

In these drawings, Figure 1 is a view of the face of one of the cards of the first section of such a pack, while Figs. 2 and 3 are views illustrating the index numeral of the section in two suitable positions. Fig. 4 is a view of the face of one of the cards of the last section of the pack, while Figs. 5 and 6 are views illustrating the index numeral of the section printed in positions corresponding to those shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

Referring now to these figures, the cards constituting a pack of cards of the variety hereinbefore referred to as lettered cards are divided into sections, and the cards of each section are distinguished from the cards of the other sections by providing their backs with numerals corresponding to the sections into which the pack is divided. These numerals, indicated by the letter a, may be located at the centers of the backs of the cards, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, or in any other suitable position, for instance at the right hand bottom corners of the backs of the cards, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6. All of the cards belonging to the first of the sections into which the pack is divided which, according to the above described allocation of cards, would bear on their faces the letters A, B, G and D, would be provided on their backs with the index number 1, while the cards belonging to the second section of the pack, namely those bearing on their faces the letters E, F, G and H would bear on their backs the index number 2 in order to distinguish them from the cards of the first section of the pack, and so, the cards of thelast section beingprovided on their backs with the index number 6, assuming of course, as aforesaid, that the pack of cards'is divided into six sections. Obviously the cards belonging to the different sections into which a pack of cards is divided may be distinguished from one another by providing their backs with distinctive letters instead of numerals, which would when a pack is divided into six sections be the letters A, B, O, D, E and E, which would preferably be placed in one or the other of the positions shown in Figs. 2 and 3 and Figs. 5 and 6.

Having now described my invention what I have invented and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States of America is as follows 1. A pack of playing cards consisting of cards bearing on their faces letters of the alphabet and divided into sections which are, for the purpose of facilitating a pre .liminary sorting face downward of hands forty eight cards bearing ontheir faces the letters of the alphabet and divided into six sections each of the members of which sections is provided 011 its front face with one of the letters assigned to the section and on its back with an index distinguishing the section to which it belongs from the other sections of-the pack, for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK \VILLIAM PITT.

Vitnesses:

ARTHUR F. ENNIS, H. D. JAMnsoN.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

